386 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
more liberally, and see if they cannot produce a 
premium crop. 
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HOW TO LAY OUT AND PLANT AN ORCHARD. 
We wrote and published the following article 
about a year since, but the paper being then in 
a form less suitable for binding, we have been 
requested to republish it in the present volume 
of the Agriculturist , that it may be bound up 
for future reference. We recommend that this 
article be re-perused annually, or as often as the 
planting of a new orchard is undertaken. It 
embodies the result of our own experience in 
planting orchards and growing fruit, which has 
been pretty large and successful during the past 
thirty-five years. We have now over forty 
acres planted with fruit trees of the choicest 
and best kinds, bearing abundantly every year. 
As some of our readers probably contemplate 
planting an orchard the coming spring, an$ as 
it is a subject requiring some previous thought 
and calculation, we shall offer a few remarks on 
this head for their consideration. 
In the first place, we will suppose that the 
field to contain the future orchard is enclosed 
—no matter what the shape, so that it is satis¬ 
factory to the proprietor and convenient for the 
purpose. 
Locality. —The location should be, if possible, 
sheltered from the prevailing cold winds, and 
with a sunny aspect; of all things, in a northern 
climate, avoiding the north side of a hill. A 
northerly slope is admissible in the Middle and 
Southern States; but a westerly, southerly, or 
easterly inclination is the best. If the land be 
level, and on an equal elevation with the sur¬ 
rounding country, of course no choice is to be 
made in that particular. 
The Soil. —-This is an important considera¬ 
tion. It should'be dry and good; that is to say, 
it should be fit to raise either a crop of grain or 
roots—good plow-land. No matter if it be 
stony, provided the stones are moveable—not 
compact masses of rock lying near the surface, 
say within three feet. It should neither be a 
compact, adhesive clay, a light, blowing sand, 
nor a hungry, hard gravel. A friable, clayey 
loam, intermixed with light gravel, resting on a 
somewhat porous sub-soil, is perhaps the best 
orchard soil of any other for apples, pears, cher¬ 
ries, quinces, and plumbs, and if thoroughly 
drained, for peaches; yet they will grow on stiffer 
or looser soils, if well cultivated, and the proper 
kinds of manures are used in their cultivation. 
Of manures for a stiff clay soil, select such as 
will operate mechanically, as well as add to its 
fertility. Decayed wood, chips, and bark are 
excellent for this purpose, as they not only 
lighten the earth and open a free passage for 
the air, rains, and dews, and for the roots of 
the young trees, but as they decompose, make 
food for their rapid growth. If the soil be light, 
compact manures are the best; and in some 
cases even clay itself, spread upon the surface 
and plowed in, is a valuable and lasting fertilizer, 
particularly limestone clays. 
Preparation of the Soil. —Previous to plant¬ 
ing, the field should be thoroughly plowed, and 
as deep as possible. If a heavy soil, the plow¬ 
ing must be deep, as shallow plowing is of little 
benefit; and if the surface-water be inclined to 
settle on it, the land should be laid into ridges, 
two rods in width, with a deep dead furrow be¬ 
tween, to let off the surplus water. This pro¬ 
cess is the more necessary, in order to form a 
center ridge, on which the tree is to stand, from 
which the surface-water may flow into the dead 
furrows on either side, and leave the tree always 
high and dry. It is necessary, also, to give the 
tree a sufficient depth of cultivated soil, in which 
the roots may luxuriate above the cold sub-soil 
beneath, where the whole field is not under¬ 
drained; which process, by-the-way, wo would 
always recommend in heavy soils, when the 
proprietor can afford it. On lighter lands, with 
a porous sub-soil, deep plowing is of less impor¬ 
tance, but even then it is of great benefit, as it 
adds to the depth and consequent fertility of 
the soil. The objects to be obtained by plow¬ 
ing before planting are several. 
1. It opens the land for digging the holes in 
which to set the trees, requiring not one-fourth 
the labor, and giving abundance of fine mold 
and sods to fill in and lay about the roots—quite 
equal to a dressing of manure, and more con¬ 
genial than ordinary manures to the growth of 
the young and tender roots. 
2. The holes need not be dug so deep nor so 
wide as if in grass ground. 
3. The young trees are not so subject to 
suffer from drouth, if it occur, as when pent up 
in a contracted space of loose earth, surrounded 
by compact soil, as that laid down in grass 
usually is. 
Laying out the Ground. —If the field to con¬ 
tain the proposed orchard be a square, or have 
one straight side, let the straight side be the 
base line with which the outer row of trees is 
to conform; or if neither side be straight, com¬ 
mence in one corner of the field, and strike out 
a line to a corresponding corner on the same 
side; then, at right angles to this line, run off 
another line. At the point from which these 
two lines are taken, set a stake firmly; also set 
a stake at each extremity of the line so run. 
Then measure each line so run out, in such a 
manner as to enclose a square of trees, at a 
given distance apart, and drive a stake at each 
corner. Thus, then, the orchard is laid out, so 
far as four sides of the square will accomplish 
it; and if sufficient space be left outside these 
lines to contain other trees, at the same distance 
apart as those which stand within, they can 
afterwards, be planted, to correspond in distance 
and line with the others, until the enclosure be 
filled. When the square is made out, draw the 
stake at each corner, and drive a short plug in 
each stake-hole; then measure off six, eight, or 
ten feet, no matter which, outside the lines, and 
set a stake on a line witlreach intended row of 
trees, diverging from the corner, so that the 
trees, when set, can be ranged from these out¬ 
side stakes, each w T ay. As soon as this is done 
at the first corner, raise the plug, dig a hole, 
and plant a tree. This tree remains as a start¬ 
ing point for the orchard. Then go to the next 
corner, and do the same, thus: 
•6 ' 6 - 
•O o- 
This diagram shows the proposed corner 
plugs, or newly-planted trees, in dots. The 
points outside of each corner are the ranging 
stakes by which the trees are to be planted. 
When a tree is planted at each corner, as 
described, go to the center, or near it, between 
the outside trees, the proper distance having 
been measured with your chain or pole, (never 
use a line of hemp, flax, wool, or cotton, as they 
will stretch or contract according as they are 
dry or moist,) and then plant a tree in each line, 
having a man at the extreme end, outside the 
ranging stake, and in a line with your opera¬ 
tions, to sight the trees, as planted, that there 
may be no deviation from a straight course. 
This, then, gives you eight trees—three in each 
of the four outside lines, corners included.— 
Then go into tho center of the square, and 
plant another tree, in range with the. center 
trees on each line. All this process might be 
as easily done with stakes, if the trees are not 
at hand, or if you wish to dig the holes in ad¬ 
vance of setting, but this method is quicker. 
The work now stands thus: 
The engineering accomplished, the laborious 
part of the work now commences. 
Procuring and taking vp the Trees. —If the 
nursery whence your trees arc to be taken be 
near, you should, if possible, superintend tak¬ 
ing up the trees, as great difference will often¬ 
times be made in favor of the roots by this pre¬ 
caution, as the laborers in nurseries, to whom 
this work is sometimes entrusted, do trees great 
injury in their hasty or careless removal. If 
your personal superintendence cannot be given, 
the ordinary chances in this particular have to 
be encountered. If the roots, get dry before ar¬ 
riving at their destination—or worse than that, 
the stocks get withered, and shrivelled in their 
bark, which is oftentimes the case—they should 
be buried, root and branch, in moist earth (laid 
in a trench and covered) for a few days, until 
roots, trunk, and branches are restored to their 
natural appearance. This supplies sap, and sets 
it in action, thus preventing the further wither¬ 
ing influences of the sun and-winds on the bark, 
if the trees be set in their shrunken condition. 
In addition to this process, if the roots can be 
laid in water for a few hours, it will be an ad¬ 
vantage to them. Before planting, let each root 
be examined, and all broken , dead, an(l cankeitU 
parts cut off with a sharp knife, and the top 
headed back, so that the preponderance of roots 
shall be about one-quarter to one-third greater 
than the top; but under no circumstances let 
the top be larger than the roots. The tree will 
lose years of growth in consequence, and long 
remain a sickly, crippled thing. 
Mode of Planting. —Referring to the second 
diagram, there being nine trees planted, com¬ 
mence on either line, measuring off the distance 
which the trees are to stand apart, and begin 
your planting. There being two trees in line in 
advance, on the course you are working, you 
have those two by which to range the one you 
are setting, until you arrive at the center tree 
in the line. Passing that, as you proceed on¬ 
ward, you then range hack; and the first five 
trees being cori’ectly set, and your sight good, 
your trees, when completed, will be all in line. 
Follow this course on each of the four sides of 
the orchard. The outside lines completed, then 
proceed to the center of ot\p of these outside 
lines, and take your range with the center tree 
of the plat, as in the second diagram ; then send 
a man to the second tree in one of the outside 
lines, at right angles to the one you now start 
from, and let him range to the second or cor¬ 
responding tree in the outer line, running par¬ 
allel with that on which he stands. You then 
advance toward the center tree before decribed, 
until by a signal from the ranging-man, either 
by his right hand or his left, the tree which you 
hold perpendicularly in your hand is in line 
with the tree behind which he stands, and its 
opposite in the outer parallel row, and also in 
line with the two trees in advance of you, as in 
the rows already planted. 
Then plant your tree. Thus proceed, as with 
the others, until the row is completed. Then 
going to the center of one of the sides, at right 
angles to that just planted, you dismiss your 
ranger , and commence planting in the same 
manner across the center of the field this way, 
the last row planted across giving you a line ot 
ranging trees, as in the process described for 
